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ahardreturn.bsky.social
Hard Return
@ahardreturn.bsky.social
230 followers 750 following 430 posts
Personal and book review blog.
A one-woman book club.
💙📚💬
AI free. I do not use AI to read, post, or review books. My content is my own.

www.aHardReturn.com

I’m on NetGalley and StoryGraph, too. 💛
https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/hardreturn
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ahardreturn.bsky.social
Pausing this for a moment bc I hate to hold up a Libby ebook if it has a line.

I love the laid back writing style in this. Story moves quickly and the voice feels very true.
💙📚💬🌈
#BookSky #Novel #LitFic #BannedBooks #Books #AmReading #BookReview #LGBTQ
Holding up a paperback copy of “Tramps Like Us” by Joe Westmoreland at my dining table. The cover has a black and white image of a 1970s city street but in blue ink. Imposed over that is an image of a shirtless man with short hair and a mustache. The man is orange with shadows and definition in red. Above him, the title is in big block letters of the same orange with red borders.
December 10, 2025 at 6:26 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is a top book of 2025 for me. WOW.

💙📚🖋️📚💬💧❄️
#BookSky #TopBooks #BookReview #BookRecs #Books #Bibliophile #Literature #LitFic #AmReading #BookLover #Snow #Water #Video
December 7, 2025 at 4:40 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Binge reading the last 100 pages of this amazeballs book.
#BookSky #BingeReading #AmReading
💙📚🖋️📚⏳
Holding up a hardcover library book in warm bedroom reading light. The book is “There Are Rivers In The Sky” by Elif Shafak and shows an image of a Mesopotamian city under a blue sky. Over the entire cover are gold metallic lines winding up like water in a river.
December 7, 2025 at 5:35 AM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
This was a miss for me. I think the way it is written is very clever, but there is no real growth in my view.

Anyone feel the same? Or differently?

⭐️⭐️.5/5 Rec: 👎
💙📚🖋️📚💬📖

#BookSky #Memoir #BookReview #BookRec #Books #MondayReading #Reading #Abuse #Trauma #Literature #Family
I hold up a hardback book in my living room. Lamp, television, and other living room things are seen around it. The book is “A Silent Treatment” by Jeannie Vanasco. Its cover looks like the back side of an aged, browned envelope with the flap slightly lifted.
December 1, 2025 at 10:21 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Do you have book recommendations for middle and elementary school kids?

It’s time for holiday shopping and this Auntie doesn’t know where to start!!

💙📚🖋️📚💬📚🎄🎅
#BookSky #YouthFiction #KidLit #Fiction #Literature #ChildrensBooks #BookRecs #Reviews #Books #Gifts #Shopping #Holiday #TBR #Kids
A pink, vintage ornament hangs in green Christmas tree foliage. White strand lights glow around it in an off focus way.
November 29, 2025 at 3:08 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Loving this library find! Dystopian mystery/thriller.
My left hand holds a hardcover library copy of “The Book of Guilt” by Catherine Chidgey. Morning light on a bedroom wall and household clutter peeks behind the book. The cover itself mostly blue sky with green sumner clouds. At bottom is green grass rolling down to the right at a soft decline. A blonde haired boy lays on the grass with the top of his head toward us, booted feet and knobby knees to the sky and askew. He could be cloud gazing and wiggling as kids do or in a kind of somersault down the incline. Above and across the sky, the title is written in a coordinating blue and looks like it was written with a brush.
November 24, 2025 at 3:33 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Just over halfway. How am I not seeing this book everywhere?! So glad my #library displayed it bc this was a book I picked up for the cover.

💙📚🖋️📚⏳📚
#BookSky #Dystopian #Fiction #LitFic #Literature #Mystery #Literature #AmReading #MondayRead #Books #BookRec #Review #Love #Reading
My left hand holds a hardcover library copy of “The Book of Guilt” by Catherine Chidgey. Morning light on a bedroom wall and household clutter peeks behind the book. The cover itself mostly blue sky with green sumner clouds. At bottom is green grass rolling down to the right at a soft decline. A blonde haired boy lays on the grass with the top of his head toward us, booted feet and knobby knees to the sky and askew. He could be cloud gazing and wiggling as kids do or in a kind of somersault down the incline. Above and across the sky, the title is written in a coordinating blue and looks like it was written with a brush.
November 24, 2025 at 3:28 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Absolutely recommend this book! A fab story of childhood, mystery, murder that immerses the reader in indigenous culture, religion, and history.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 Rec:👍👍👍

💙📚⏳📚🖋️📚💬

#BookSky #Literature #Fiction #Mystery #Novel #LitFic #Books #Review #AmReading #Love #HistoricalFiction #BookReview #BookRec
A paperback library book sits on a white, cube shelf. It is “The Round House” by Louise Erdrich. It leans against a prayer plant with deep green leaves painted with bright red veins. “Shelfy” items are seen around it. A frame sits against the wall behind, more library books and a pink ball of yarn with circular needles in it are seen on the shelf below. The book cover itself is white. A woman stands on the left half of the image, ankles together and arms tight to her sides. Long black hair blows straight out to the right across the cover. Every part of her from one eyebrow down is obscured by a bright red color that imitates fabric. It also trails straight out from her body across the cover filling most of the image. Title and author are in black and white across the red.
November 22, 2025 at 4:18 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Half through “The Round House” by Louise Erdrich. This is my first of her books and I’m a fan so far!

💙📚🖋️📚💬
#BookSky #Indigenous #Stories #Novel #Historical #Literature #Fiction #Mystery #Books #AmReading #BookRec #Review #Love #Friday #TGIF #WeekendReading
A paperback, library copy of “The Round House” by Louise Erdrich lays on the edge of a round coffee table. I snapped the photo from directly above. Closer to camera at top of image are deep green leaves of a polka dot Begonia, they have large white spots as the name suggests. The table is a walnut tone and in the bottom right corner a snatch of orange floral carpet is furthest from camera. The book cover itself is white. A woman stands on the left half of the image, ankles together and arms tight to her sides. Long black hair blows straight out to the right across the cover. Every part of her from one eyebrow down is obscured by a bright red color that imitates fabric. It also trails straight out from her body across the cover filling most of the image. Title and author are in black and white across the red.
November 21, 2025 at 4:56 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
November 21, 2025 at 1:27 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
I’m glad I finished this!! The last quarter picked up such a momentum my heart was racing in the final pages.

The way Murray uses the literary toolbox (foreshadowing, symbolism, metaphor, etc) are just masterful.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Rec: 👍

💙📚🖋️📚💬📚🌱
#BookSky #BookReview #Love #Reading #LitFic #Literature
My eReader lays in a white countertop with grey marbling. Bright, white sun sprays across the screen through a water glass (well, a jar) next to it. The reader has a skin that is white with a floral wallpaper style print featuring blue-ish foliage and pink roses. The face of the reader shows a blank and white rendering of the book cover for “The Bee Sting” by Paul Murray. Simple block letters name the title and the author. Between them, center of screen is a drawing of a bee, flying or falling at a downward angle. Trailing from his stinger in cursive script is “a novel.”
November 20, 2025 at 3:23 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
This book has major flaws. Feels like the author is unclear on her message so the reader ends up the same.
However, the reading is super fun. I’m not a romance fan but this one is clever and funny.
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5 Rec: 👍
💙📚🪐📚⏳📚🖋️📚💬
#BookSky #Romance #SciFi #Books #BookRec #TimeTravel #Reading #Love
A thumbnail image of the book cover for Kailane Bradley’s, “The Ministry Of Time.” A set of three dimensional block letters float in the dark of space spelling the book title. They are all different, bold colors.
November 16, 2025 at 2:28 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
You may appreciate this birthday gift I made for the Linda in my life. I didn’t seem to remember to take any after I finished it.
A black athletic bra with a zipper up the front lays on a grey bedcover. Sewn to it are loops of elastic in two rows across the right side and one across the left. The loops hold bottles of spices in two unfinished rows across the front of the bra.
November 14, 2025 at 9:47 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Yay or Nay? I’m 25% into this book - been an increasing slog. I’m getting irritated.

Have you read #TheBeeSting ?
Should I keep going or cut my losses?

💙📚💬📚🖋️📚☘️
#BookSky #BookReview #BookRec #Novel #Literature #Fiction #Books #DNF #AmReading
My eReader lays in a white countertop with grey marbling. Bright, white sun sprays across the screen through a water glass (well, a jar) next to it. The reader has a skin that is white with a floral wallpaper style print featuring blue-ish foliage and pink roses. The face of the reader shows a blank and white rendering of the book cover for “The Bee Sting” by Paul Murray. Simple block letters name the title and the author. Between them, center of screen is a drawing of a bee, flying or falling at a downward angle. Trailing from his stinger in cursive script is “a novel.”
November 13, 2025 at 5:39 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Stepping away from the current novel into this cozy read about the most dreamy bookshops. This is my preferred fantasy genre. 😂
💙📚💬📚⏳📚
#BookSky #NonFiction #Bookshops #History #Books #Love #AmReading #Puppy #LibraryBook #Doodle #WinnieTheBish
I hold a hardback copy of “The Bookshop: A History Of The American Bookstore,” by Evan Friss. The cover is a front window of the quintessential indie bookstore with an emerald green front and trim, glowing lamps illuminating stacks, shelves, and stands of books. The author and title are written as though stenciled onto the from window we are looking into. I hold the book in my left hand over my lap to lessen the glare. Dark navy blue jeans peek below and a bit of my beige waffle shirt and a beige linen tablecloth sort of frame the warm green tones of the book. To the right of the book, my tiniest roommate, Winnie the Bichpoo, has stretched to her fullest height which is around my knee and peeks around the side to look up at me in quiet concentration… willing me to find and throw her beloved ball. She is an equally beige fluff to the tablecloth and my shirt with dark little button eyes and a deep brown button nose.
November 13, 2025 at 2:21 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Light therapy is better on leisurely weekends!

Very much enjoying this book. Half through and I’ve chuckled out loud several times. It’s clever and fun.

💙📚💬📚🖋️📚🪐📚☕️
#Saturday #Reading #Weekend #Therapy #Literature #BookSky #Books #Love #Coffee #Weekend #TimeTravel #LitFic
My eReader lays on the corner of a laptop keyboard on the honey-toned wooden surface of my workspace. It’s surrounded by the symbols of “productivity:” a second keyboard, a little mouse, a ceramic mug of with just a splash of creamy coffee remaining. And just behind those is a rectangle of bright light, a light therapy lamp. (Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it… and even then..) The eReader has a clear case and under that a skin that is white with colorful cartoon art of berries, daisies, smileys, and rainbows. Everything is bathed in cozy light. The face of the reader shows a black and white version of the book cover for “The Ministry of Time,” by Kaliane Bradley. Dramatic block lettering stretches up a solid background. Different shades of grey suggest a variety of colors in the letters.
November 8, 2025 at 3:07 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Delightful. This book was fun, quirky, and heartfelt. I needed something light but still engaging for a reset. I liked this even more than Lenny Marks!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5 Rec:👍
💙📚💬📚🖋️📚⚡️
#BookSky #Literature #AmReading #Review #BookRec #Love #Books #Mystery #Fun #Blog #Books #Novel #LitFic
Holding an eReader in front of a plant (a Hoya tricolor). The reader has a pink skin with a pattern of red strawberries and white daisies. In black and white, it displays the cover of Kerryn Mayne’s book, “Joy Moody Is Out Of Time.” A town of three older style washing machines makes up the bottom third of the cover and the title is written as a neon shop sign above them in which the words are framed by shape of a clothes hanger and the word “time” is in black as though that words of the sign is unlit.
November 6, 2025 at 8:31 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Hard to return. Getting a copy for my own shelf.💙📚⏳📚🖋️
A triumph. Jeffers takes centuries of histories that have long been kept separate & obfuscated - she uses a single family tree to reintegrate them with context & story leaving the reader w truth. You feel this book for days.
#BookSky #BookReview
I snapped this picture of the hardback copy of “The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois,” by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers while returning it to the library. My left hand holds the deep orange book in front of a grey, metal book return bin. In white letters up the side of the bin is the word “ books” and partially obscured by my hand and the book are the words “return materials here” in black. The cover itself is a very orange background with title and author in white. A yellow tree with a yellow moon above are represented in abstract and silhouette.
November 5, 2025 at 5:24 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
A little last minute Halloweening. 🎃
Have fun tonight, #BookSky friends! I’ll be tucked up with a doing what I always do… but with candles and toasted pumpkin seeds. 😉 🕯️ #Reading

🎃🍁🍂🌱
#Halloween #JackOLantern #Holiday #Pumpkin #Books #HappyHalloween #BookReviews #TrickOrTreat
A Jack-o-lantern sits on a green, gridded patio table. A handful of textured gourds surround it. Above is the bottom of a closed, red patio umbrella. Beyond is a low country sky, open field, and a white canvas bell tent. The Jack-o-lantern is extremely simple with two punched-hole eyes and a mouth that is a simple line making a cute little side smirk. It took longer to clean the inside than to carve the pumpkin… but worth it for the roasting seeds. 😉
October 31, 2025 at 11:02 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
My partner walked in to find me sobbing while reading page 523. “Sad ending?” I held up the remaining 250 pages. “Oh.”

Lots of pages. Lots of processing breaks. This book is really something. 💛
💙📚💬📚🖋️📚⏳ #BookSky #Reading #LitFic #Historical #Books #Literature #Fiction #BookReview #Love
“The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois” by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers lays on a striped woven rug. It’s many stripes of bold colors run horizontally beneath the book and complement its deep orange cover. The title and author are a crisp contrasting white over an abstract rendering of a yellow tree and either the sun or the moon above it. (I think it’s the moon.)
October 31, 2025 at 6:41 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
This was a fantastic read. 👍

💙📚💬📚🐟🌊
#BookSky #BookReview #LondonReview #AboutBooks #AmReading #Love #History #Colonization #Water #BookLover #Recommend #Read
My copy of the October 23 issue of the London Review of Books lays on a messy kitchen table. I’ve pushed the camera in tight from above to hide some of that. Lol I’ve also held the review with the cover folded down at an angle to show the title of the publication as well as the title and author of the review I’m posting about. That is “Fish in the Wrong Place” by Oliver Cussen. The paper sits on a beige linen tablecloth and across a couple of tan, cloth placemats. A round wood revolving tray sits close by with Pothos propagations on it in a cobalt blue vessel. The leaves fill the top of frame close to camera. Strong morning light makes deep colors and deeper shadows in the image.
October 30, 2025 at 8:20 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Taking my time with this novel. Not only is it a longer read, it’s a dense, meaningful one.

💙📚💬📚🖋️📚⏳
#BookSky #Literature #Fiction #Novel #Monday #AmReading #Books #Love #Review #BookRecs #LitFic
I hold up a hardcover library book that Im reading under a reading lamp so it is brightly lit from above. The book is “The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers. It has a solid orange cover with and abstract tree and sun or moon in yellow. Words are in white over top of them.
October 28, 2025 at 12:06 AM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
A little #Friday celebration! I have 200 #followers?!? As an anon account, that sticks to books (trending or not), with no other socials? I’m tickled that 200 folks want to hang out with me. Thank you!!!💛

(see Alt for more)

💙📚💬🦋
#BookSky #Books #JeffGoldblum #TGIF #Reading #Love #Reviews #Blog #TY
A fun photo of the back of my eReader. I am holding it up with my left hand. The reader has a clear case with glitter on it. A collage of stickers covers the back. Pinks and peach stickers with green fronds of foliage make up a background of color for some fun stickers. In the top left is a large sticker that says “See Cece Run” in maroon letters - a reference to a favorite and oft-quoted show in my house, New Girl. Next to that in top right is a sticker with a photo of Nick Miller from the same show making a classic, scowling face for that character. In the show this is called his “turtle face.” Below that is a sticker of a yellow book titled “Reading Makes Me Happy” and below that, in the bottom right, is a sticker with a racoon on an open trash can that’s on fire. The words around it are “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.” lol And lastly, in the bottom left is a sticker of Jeff Goldblum’s face. I’ve got one on both of my eReaders because he’s the weirdest, coolest celebrity on whom I have the weirdest, coolest crush. In the background, though blurry, is an image in a dramatic gold frame. It’s Goodblum depicted as a saint in a renaissance painting, the robes, the gold halo behind his head, and holding up his hand in benediction. He wears his chunky glasses though and the large, gold medallion on his chest is imprinted with a dinosaur. Very tiny on the chain is a fly. This is not the only Jeff art in my home, haha. I may not share my personal details or my face on this account (or any account), but I wanted to share something weird and personal because being connected to you all here on BlueSky is really cool. Cool like Jeff Goldblum. 😂
October 24, 2025 at 9:18 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
For me, a good story doesn’t hit unless the wordsmithing is there. Ng’s composition is always there for me.

“Whodunnit?” meets insightful race/gender/generation commentary. Loved.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Rec:👍

💙📚💬📚🖋️
#BookSky #AmReading #BookRec #Review #Novel #LitFic #Literature #Love #Books #BookReview
Thumbnail of the book cover for Celeste Ng’s book, “Everything I Never Told You.” The cover is a photograph image of a woman swimming or floating on dark, blue water. Taking from directly above, she’s in a deep green/blue bathing suit, facing down into the water with legs straight out behind her and arms out to the side and above her shoulders like a breast stroked. She is directed horizontally across the cover moving to the left. The title and name of the author are written in white and look like erratic scribbling. Down the right side runs a teal banner that reads “The New York Times Bestseller.”
October 22, 2025 at 10:56 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Since I don’t buy books often, and rarely buy them new, I enjoy dressing up my eReader. These will be a fun addition!

💙📚💬📚🍄🍁🐢📺

www.etsy.com/shop/Jennife... for the original mushroom art.

#BookSky #eReader #Books #Stickers #Art #NewGirl #Kindle #Etsy #BookCover #CottageCore #Cute #Cozy #Love
Two stickers with darling original art in a very fairy tale style lay on a honey color wood table. One is a ghost with a red, speckled mushroom top on its head. It is surrounded by little red spotted mushrooms, stars and a crescent moon. The other is an open book. It’s has forest floor plants and cutesy mushrooms growing from the open pages. Both items came from the shop at this link. I’m not affiliated, just happy with the product. https://www.etsy.com/shop/JenniferDixonArt Three stickers lay on a honey colored wood table. They are all references from the TV show “New Girl” of which I’m a big fan. The top sticker is white with a black line drawing of the logo on Jess Day’s t shirt in the beginning of the show. It reads “Ms. Day’s JAM-borée, Sixth Grade Class, 2009” The bottom left sticker is a photo of the character, Nick making a grouchy face and hunching his shoulders. It shows his head neck and shoulders before cutting off. The last sticker simply reads “See CeCe Run” in chunky maroon font.
October 21, 2025 at 4:27 PM